Colors are a fascinating aspect of our world. They’re ubiquitous, yet they don’t exist in isolation. Rather, everything possesses color, but color itself is not an independent entity. It’s simply the way light interacts with our eyes, leading us to label these perceptions as “red,” “blue,” or “green.” Surprisingly, discussions about colors can become quite contentious, as evidenced by phenomena like the infamous “the dress” debate. However, delving into the history of color names might offer insights into how humans perceive the world around them.
The origins of the color names we’re familiar with today are intriguing and diverse. They didn’t all emerge simultaneously; rather, they have evolved over time from various sources. Let’s delve into the stories behind some of the most common English color words. Although it’s worth noting that other languages have their own unique terms for colors, we’ll focus on the ones commonly used in English. By examining the historical underpinnings of these color names, we may gain a deeper understanding of human perception and cultural influences on language.
Dark And White
“Black” and “white” are apparently the two most fundamental colors, so it’s no astonish that these words go back to Proto-Indo-European, the language spoken by a bunch of individuals over 4,000 a long time back that part off to create a colossal number of dialects talked within the West. White comes from ḱweydos, which implied to “shine.” It advanced through Proto-Germanic hwītaz, and entered into Ancient English as hwīt.
The supreme beginning of “black” is a bit more dubious, but the word appeared in Proto-Germanic as blakaz. This word too implied “burnt,” which makes sense since burnt objects are commonly found in nature, and they are in fact dark. Usually why it’s accepted the word may be from Proto-Indo-European bleg-, related to bleyǵ- (“to burn, to sparkle, to scorch”).
Ruddy
Phonetically, ruddy could be a exceptionally imperative color. Analysts have examined the advancement of color names, and they found that there appears to be an arrange to when colors get labeled all through different histories. Whether a culture has three color words or 50, the primary three to create are essentially continuously dark, white and after that ruddy (at that point green, yellow, blue and so on).
It makes sense, at that point, that the word “red” would go back to the Proto-Indo-European reudh. That’s why the word for “red” is similar over Indo-European dialects. For occurrence, there’s the German decay, Spanish rojo and French rouge.
Orange
The word “orange“ was a latecomer to the color title diversion. The natural product came some time recently the color, as numerous color names are really determined from the world of vegetation. The word orange itself came to English way back from the Sanskrit nāraṅga, which inevitably got to be Ancient French pome orange (“orange apple”), which got to be the Center English orange. Some time recently at that point, English-speakers would just say geoluhread (“yellow-red”).
There are still waiting remainders from the pre-orange days of English. A red-headed individual, for illustration, would likely be more precisely depicted as orange-headed. And a red-breasted robin, too, looks a bit closer to orange-breasted.
Yellow
“Yellow,” like ruddy, goes all the way back to Proto-Indo-European. It begun with gelhwos, which got to be Proto-Germanic gelwaz and in the long run Center English’s yelwe. An curiously note is that yellow now starts with a “y” sound, but it initially sounded more like a “g” sound. The Proto-Indo-European gelh– implied both “yellow” and “gleam,” and the affiliation of “gl” particularly with light has endured since at that point. A colossal number of words relating to light begin with gl- — sparkle, gleam, sparkle — and they might all be connected back to this same root word.
Green And Gray
“Green” is maybe the foremost critical color in nature, and the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color. The root of modern-day “green” comes from the Proto-Indo-European greh-, which implied “to grow.” This root moreover gives us grass, brush and other words that need to do with plants and nature.
Strangely sufficient, “gray” moreover comes from greh- as well, in spite of the fact that it’s not completely clear why. “Gray” is additionally one of the Joined together States’ commitments to color names, as the British spelling is “grey.” The alter was made by Noah Webster, who contended that “gray” makes more sense.
Blue
Blue is another color we habitually encounter in nature. Both the ocean and the sky are blue, and one of the most popular pictures of our planet is called “Blue Marble.” Blue hasn’t always been a normal portion of the vocabulary, be that as it may. History specialists fixate over Homer’s depiction within the Journey of a “wine-dark sea,” as wine usually doesn’t come in blue. And if you follow the word “blue” back to Proto-Indo-European, you get blew-, which implies “yellow, fair, gray.” Which, clearly, isn’t “blue” as we get it it.
In spite of the truth that blue appears like a flawlessly normal color, it doesn’t truly emerge much within the plant or creature world. The sky was more likely to be labeled as “light” or “dark” than “blue” thousands of a long time prior. It wasn’t truly until the color blue begun appearing up in art that it begun too showing up in dialect. The Egyptians, for illustration, to begin with begun utilizing their word for blue when they were importing lapis from Afghanistan to form bright blue colors. Blue colors were moderate to spread over the world, and so, as well, were the words for blue.
Purple
Like blue, “purple” is tied to the world of colors and colors. The Romans ground up a specific shellfish — which they called purpura — to make a color that got to be exceptionally prevalent. It was especially sought-after by the wealthy, and it was the color of eminence for centuries. The word purpura (which came from the more seasoned Greek porphura) made it into the Anglo-Saxon dialect as purpul, which afterward evolved into “purple.”
Violet And Pink
Both “violet” and “pink” come from blooms of the same name. “Violet” comes from the Latin word viola, which basically alluded to the blossoms that were (you speculated it) violet in color. “Pink” was moreover the title of a bloom, in spite of the fact that it’s not a very well-known bloom. And no one is completely beyond any doubt why the bloom was named “pink” within the first place. It might be related to “pinking shears,” utilized in crafting, but something else it’s an etymological secret.